Enormous, 6-foot-5 12-year-old faced with unique struggles in Canadian Peewee hockey league

From a distance, Ethan Lavallee could easily pass as an NHL defenseman. At nearly 6-foot-6 (he's officially listed at 6-foot-5 1/2) and 192 pounds, he would weigh in on the lighter side of a professional hockey backliner, but he would hardly be out of place in a team photoshoot.

As one might expect, Lavallee is expected to be a physical presence on the ice as well. That presents a rather unique problem, since any hits to the head in the minimal contact Ontario league draw a mandatory two-minute penalty.

"Sometimes I'll hit, but whenever I hit I make sure I'm down low and never shoulder to head," Lavallee told the Star. "There are people gunning for me on the other teams."

The concern about other players "gunning" for Lavallee has been reinforced by his coach, Dan Giroux.

"Is he really 12 years old? He becomes a target," Giroux told the Star. "Being that big, a lot of kids want to say they knocked him down. He takes a lot of abuse from the fans and even other coaches. Anytime he runs into a child they think he's trying to kill them."

For now, Lavallee and his size 14 feet are still a "bundle of long-limbed potential," as the Star's Kerry Gillespie put it. In the meantime, Lavallee and his parents will keep hoping for the exact opposite of Tom Hanks' character in the movie Big: They just want Ethan to stop growing before he's forced into becoming a basketball player.

"Constantly growing really doesn't help," Lavallee told the Star. "I get used to skating and then I grow one-and-a-half inches in one month and I kind of lose the feel for it."